2U 



NA TURE 



[July 5, 1894 



geologically old-fashioned peninsular portion of India. Water, 

 the great agent of denudation, has, by its chemical and physical 

 action, been the cause of the landslip at Gohna, but the effects 

 oftthe potential energy accumulating in the lake have to be 

 patienty awaited. 



SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. 



IN the Forlnig/itly Prof. Karl Pearson heads a forcible article 

 on " Socialism and N.ilural Selection " with the following 

 quotation from Darwin : — " What a foolish idea seems to pre- 

 vail ... on the connection between Socialism and Evolution 

 through Natural Selection." Hi"; contribution is a diatribe 

 against the views set foilh by Mr. Kidd in '• Social Evolution " 

 and the reviewers who have hailed the work as scientific in ils 1 

 construction and conclusions. Dr. Louis Robinson points out 

 the glaring moral inconsistency of the majority of anti-vivisec- 

 tionists, who " while they claim to be actuated by ihe gre.it 

 principle that kindness to all living creatures should be a rule 

 from which only the direst necessity can excuse us . . . are con- 

 tent to ignore the cruelties which are most wanton, most severe, 

 and most frequently inflicled. Moreover, this strange callous- 

 ness to the great mass of animal suffering is not deemed incon- 

 sistent with a frenzied onslaught on the practice of experiment- 

 ing upon animals in the interest of medical science, although 

 such experiments are deemed absolutely needful by nearly all 

 those who know anything at all .ibout the subject, and although 

 the pain so caused is but as a drop in the ocean when compared 



with that intlicted in sport, or for monetary profit 



Now what would all the good humanitarians say, if some man of 

 science, pursuing knowledge rather than pleasure, were delibe- 

 rately to smash the leg of an animal, and laceraie its flesh with 

 some blunt inslrumtnf, and merely to save himself a little 

 trouble, were to let it crawl about the laboratory, with a com- 

 pound fracture and wounds unattended lo, while he busied 

 himself with something else? What, if he were to com- 

 mence an operation on a pigeon by wrenching off a wing and 

 gouging out an eye, and then were to stroll off to lunch, and a 

 game of billiards, intending to come back and finish the business 

 when he had leisure? What if he were lo tear open the abdo- 

 minal cavity of a rabbit, and, rather than .spend a quarter of an 

 hour in completing the operation he had bfgun, were callously 

 to let it die in all ihe unspeakableagonies of peritonitis? What, 

 again, would they siy if, when the vicar dropped in lo after- 

 noon tea and asked about the result of the experiments, our in- 

 vestigator were lo smile and rub his guilty hands as he replied 

 ihat he had had a most enjoyable morning ? And, lastly, what 

 would they say about the vicar if on hearing this shameless 

 avowal he joined in the abominable rejoicings of his host, and 

 accepted a gift of the mangled carcases of the victims ? " 



The Coiiltiiiporary con\.A\n% a reply by Prof. Bonney to Dr. 

 Wallace's arguments in favour of the excavation of lake basins 

 by glaciers {Foilniglilly, Nov. ard Dec. 1893). Piof. Bonney 

 winds up by saving: "Notwithstanding Dr. Wallace's in- 

 genious .idvocacyof the erosive power of glaciers and ice-sheets, 

 I maintain lhat these can excavate only under the most favour- 

 able conditions, and then but to a limilid extent, and lhat they 

 are proved by a close study of the Alpine peaks and valleys to 

 have been incapable of hollowing out the great lakes of that 

 chain." 



Dr. Carl Lumholtz has been for the past three years making 

 explorations in the almost unknown regions of Ihe Sierra Madre 

 in Mexico. The first of a scries of papers on his discoveries 

 appears in Soilner'i Mai^a-.ine under the title, " .Among ihe 

 larahumaris." The paper is profusily illustrated from photo- 

 graphs taken by the author. The following exiiacts arc of 

 interest : — 



" Cave-dwellers are found among the rollowinglribcs, count- 

 ing from the north : The south; rn I'imav, Ihe Taraliumaris, ond 

 ihc allied tribe of Muarogios, and the Trpehuancs, All these 

 Irilx'i inhabit ihc .State of Chihuahua and arc mure or less 

 mounlainccrs living almost entirely in the great Sierra Madre 

 range. Of these people the Tnrahurnaiis are most attached 

 lo cavei, the Tepehuanes ihe least. All are linguistically 

 related. In some of their customs and manners they also greatly 

 resemble each other, while in others, as well as in character, 

 ihey arc strikingly different. Very little that may be called 

 accurate was known of these tribes. The Tarahumaris, ihc 



most primitive of them and the least affected by Mexican civili- 

 sation, are the most interesting." 



.\s to the relation of these people lo the cliff-dwellers of the 

 south-west. Dr. Lumholtz remarks ; " .\re the cave-dwellers 

 related to the ancient cliff-dwellers of the south- western part of 

 the United States and northern .Mexico ? Decidedly not. Their 

 very aversion to living more than one family in a cave, and 

 iheir lack of sociability, marks a strong contrast with the ancient 

 cblT-dwcllers who were by nature gregarious. The fact that 

 people live in caves is in itself extremely interesling, but this 

 alone does not prove any connection between them and the 

 ancient cliffdwelleis. .\Uhough the Tarahumari is very initlH- 

 gent, he is backward in the arts ami industries. His pottery Is 

 exceedingly crude, as compared with the work found in the old 

 clifT-dwel lings, and its decoration is infantile .is contrasted with 

 the cliff-dwellers' work. The clifT-dwellers brought the art of 

 decoration to a comparatively high state, as shown in the relics 

 found in their dwellings. Bui Ihe cave-dweller of to-day shows 

 no suggestion of such skill. Moreover, he is utterly devoid of 

 the aichitectural gift, which resulted in the remarkable rock 

 struclures of the early cliff-dwellers. These people, so far a-. 

 concerns their cave-dwelling habits, cannot be ranked above 

 troglodytes." 



Prof. N. S. Shaler, of Harvard, continues his popular studies 

 of domestic animals with a paper on " Beasts of Burden,'' show- 

 ing the great part they have played in the civilisation of man. 

 The article is richly illustrated. 



A chatty article on British vipers is contributed lo Ctuimbtrs' s 

 by Dr. A. Stradling. This journal also contains "Wintering 

 on Ben Nevis," by Mr. R. C. Mossman, being a description of 

 meteorological phenomena observed during a winter's exile in 

 the Ben Nevis Observatory. We also note a description of some 

 of the methods adopted by the modern pharmaceutist to make 

 the medicines he dispenses less objectionable than formerly ; 

 an article on diamonds, and others on recent developments of 

 photography, "The Sleep of Plants," and "Nest-building 

 Insects." 



Sir Henry Koscoe writes on "The New Education" in the 

 Humanilarian, and states in his article what is being done in 

 the way of technical instruction. The ^ame journal is the arena 

 of a more or less healed discussion on vlvi>cclion. Lady Burton 

 cxpaliates upon "The Position of Animals in the .Scale of 

 Nature," and Dr. K. Berdoe replies to Prof. Victor Horsley's 

 criticisms which appeared in the June number. Lady Burton 

 suggests that criminals sentenced 10 death should be given the 

 option of being experimented upon or of dying a felon's death. 

 The same idea has bem put forward by another writer. In Ihe 

 SiiiiJiiy Afiigaziiiev;Q find a concluding article on "The Stuff 

 we are made of,' by Dr. J. NL llobson. 



.Sir Robert Ball must have a rather poor opinion of the readers 

 of Casseli's Family Mn^azhif, or he would not offer them such 

 "an old, old story " as lhat he tells in " .\ Talk about the 

 Pleiades. " A few remarks on the visibilily of stars in the cluster 

 are followed by some trile conclusions upon the gregarious 

 character of Ihe proper motions, a vague statement as to the 

 spectra of the components, ami a description of the ])hotography 

 of ihe group. .Ml this is illustrated by two cuts from one of the 

 author's books and a reproduction of the plate based upon ihe 

 ^ photograph taken bylhe lirothers llenrysomeycarsago. Nothing 

 but the author's reputation would have secured the insertion nl 

 such a commonplace contribution. An article of a belter stamp 

 is his sketch of the life of Sir William 1 lerschcl in Good IVoi.: . 

 1 being Ihe third of a series on "Thedreat .Astronomers. " Tin- 

 scries is evidently intended to be published In book form whin 

 completed. Misconception will certainly result, howcvci. 

 from the description of the discovery of Uranus. Krom Sn 

 Robert Ball's account, readers aie led to believe that Herschcl 

 knew that the object that came wilhin his ken in March 17S2 

 was a planet, as soon as he had found that it was a disc capable 

 of magnilicalion. But it is well known lhat Herschel thought 

 the object was a comet ; in fact, he announced his discovery :is 

 comelary, and it was not until some monlhs later thai n^ 

 planetary nature was established by considerations of Ihe orlm 

 It pursued. We would, therefore, suggest to the learned Low n- 

 dean professor that he would do well to modify ihe following 

 stalcmcnl — "Great then was the astonishment of the scicnlilic 

 world when Ihe Bath organist announced his discovery lhat llie 

 five planets which had been known from all antiquity musi 

 now admit the company of a sixth." 



The Crw/K^)- contains the third part of "Across Asia on a 



NO. 12?8, VOL. 50] 



